Apparatus for cutting tobacco and similar material



May 20, 1958 H. KOCHALSKI APPARATUS FOR CUTTING TOBACCO AND SIMILAR MATERIAL Filed Jan. 9, i956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ill 24 I Z V Hers? 1,113 325 a' 5g y ya n&

May 20, 1958 H. KOCHALSKI APPARATUS FOR CUTTING TOBACCO AND SIMILAR MATERIAL Filed Jan. 9, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1720972 for fwts'f fock 6128 1';

2 W .ltlarne ys APPARATUS FOR CUTTING TOBACCO AND SIMILAR MATERIAL Horst Kochalski, Schonningstedt, Post Reinbek, Germany,

assignor to Kurt Kdrber & Co. K. G., Hamburg-Bergedorf, Germany Application January 9, 1956, Serial No. 558,070 Claims priority, application Germany February 4, 1955 8 Claims. (Ci. 146-106) This invention relates generally to a machine for cutting tobacco and similar leaf material and more particularly to a machine which cuts the tobacco into strands of the type required, for example, in the manufacture of cigarettes.

in arrangements of this type care must be exercised in handling the tobacco so that it is not crushed to an extent causing it to lose its resilience or heated during the process to an extent tending to evaporate the aetheric oils which give the tobacco its aroma.

For instance, in one prior art arrangement for slicing tobacco into strands, the tobacco is fed to the cutters by means of a channel having an opening or nozzle adjacent the cutters. Considerable pressure must be applied to the tobacco column in the channel to force it therethrough and consequently the tobacco tends to crush and pack on the way to the cutter or knife which rotates or oscillates at the end of the channel and cuts the tobacco into thin slices or strands. As a consequence of this crushing, the weight of a given volume of the tobacco even when sliced or shredded is higher than that of a corresponding volume of sliced tobacco which has not been crushed or packed prior to slicing. This is undesirable since it increases the weight of tobacco required, for example, to fill a cigarette so that it has the same round and firm appearance and feel of a cigarette packed with strands of tobacco which were not crushed prior to slicing.

The fact that a cigarette may include more tobacco by weight is not evidence of a superior product, since such a cigarette is usually not uniformly packed and is more difiicult to draw smoke through. Also such a cigarette will usually not burn evenly and the smoke feels hotter than is the case when the cigarette is packed with uniformly resilient strands of tobacco.

In another type of prior art apparatus efforts were made to overcome such disadvantages through the provision of a pair of conventional meshing knife rollers to which tobacco was fed by a hopper or similar arrangement. In this apparatus the knives are situated at the bottom of the hopper. This arrangement provided a gravity feed for the tobacco which in some respects represented an improvement over the arrangement described nited States Patent above, but it had other disadvantages which could be a only partially eliminated even with expensive and complicated additional devices. One of these disadvantages resided in themeshing knife rollers which tended to oscillate at high rotating speeds causing the knife blades to strike one another and consequently wear out rapidly. This blade impact generated considerable heat which was detrimental to the tobacco in that it evaporated the aetheric oils contained in the tobacco causing it to lose its aroma. A further problem with this arrangement was that of introducing the tobacco leaves to the knives with their ribs transverse to the direction of cutting. With a hopper or funnel type of feed this requires additional guiding means.

The present invention differs from the aforesaid arrangements and other prior art arrangements and represents an improvement thereover in that the tobacco leaves are centrifugally accelerated toward the cutting device. There the individual leaves of tobacco by reason of their mass, are forced into the path of the cutting device, the force being conveniently varied by varying the speed of rotation of the device which rotates the tobacco leaves.

Generally, it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for slicing tobacco or similar material wherein the individual leaves of tobacco or pieces of the material to be sliced are centrifugally accelerated into the cutting or slicing device.

Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus or device of the character mentioned which obviates crushing or packing of the tobacco and which does not expose the tobacco to damaging mechanically generated heat during its passage through the device.

Further separate and combined objects are to provide an apparatus or device for slicing tobacco or similar material which is compact in size with respect to prior devices capable of handling corresponding volume rates of tobacco or similar material and which also is simple with respect to operational requirements and positive in operation.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from a study of the following specification when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a machine, embodying the principles of this invention, in which the inlet or supply tube through which the tobacco is fed has been removed for clarity.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 11-11 of Fig. 1 showing the rotating disc assembly,

Fig. 3 is an elevational view taken in the direction of the arrow III in Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section of the device showing additional details of the disc assembly and associated parts, and

Fig.5 is a fragmentary plan view of the lower disc of the disc assembly illustrating a suitable configuration of ribs or grooves in the disc surface.

As a matter of convenience in the following detail description of this invention the apparatus is described in connection with the slicing of tobacco leaves. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that this invention may be applied with equal facility to other materials having similar characteristics.

Referring to the drawings the machine comprises a base it upon which a frame 2 is mounted. A vertically disposed shaft 3 mounted in a flange 4 situated substantially centrally of the base it within the frame 2, rotatably mounts a concave disc 5 for rotation in a substantially horizontal plane. An upper disc '7, of substantially the same diameter as the lower concave disc 5, is rotatably mounted above disc 5 by means of a split bearing assembly which journals the disc hub 7a. The bearing assembly comprises bearing sections 9 and 9a and diametrically disposed hearing arms lid and 10a terminating in downwardly extending portions ill and 11a. Bearing arms id and lilo extend beyond the margin of discs 5 and 7 and extend downwardly at their ends as shown at 11 and 11a. The bearing arms are journaled at their ends by means of the pins 12a g'and 13a in the upstanding bearing plates 12 and 13, respectively, which are mounted on the upper surface of the machine frame 2, as seen in Fig. I. This expedient permits tilting of the axis of rotation of disc '7 with respect to the axis of disc 5.

As will be seen by reference to Figs. 2, the discs define row peripheral opening at the rims of the discs and the upper disc is provided with an opening through its hub 7a through which the tobacco leaves are admitted to the cavity. The tobacco leaves may be conveniently conveyed to the cavity C by means of a pneumatic conveyor including the vertical tube or pipe 15 which terminates within an adjustable pipe 16 adjustably disposed in the opening in hub 70:. Means (not shown) may be provided to mount the pipe 16 'so that it may be adjusted axially of the hub 7a and also that it may be tilted as shown so that the tobacco leaves may be injected into cavity C on one side of the axis of rotation of the lower disc 5.

The discs and 7 are driven by an endless band or belt l'iof any suitable flexible material. This band is of sufiicient width to straddle the flat rims of the discs and engages the discs and closes the cavity C over about three-quarters of the circumference of the discs. A pulley 18 about which the band or belt passes functions simultaneously as a driving and reversing pulley. As will be seen by reference to Fig. 3, this pulley. ismounted on the vertically disposed shaft of a motor 19 to be driven thereby. The band then passes around the guide pulleys 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 and about the rims of the discs 5 and 7 back to the driving pulley 18. The band or belt 17 is tensioned by means of a spring loaded pulley or roller 28. Pulley 28 is rotatably mounted on one end of an arm 29 pivotally mounted at 31 on the upper surface of frame 2. A tension spring 32 connected between the other end of arm 29 and frame 2 biases the arm 29 in a counterclockwise direction about pivot 31 driving the pulley into positive engagement with belt 17 to tension it in the degree required.

A motor 33 drives a rotatable cutting knife 34 which in its simplest form may be a disc having a sharp edge. This motor is mounted on a two-part bracket including angle bracket sections 35 and 35a. The bracket section 35 is adjustably bolted to frame 2, with the axis of the motor disposed above the opening 36 between the left sides of the discs, as seen in Fig. 2 and with the plane.

of the cutting disc knife disposed substantially tangentially of the rims of the discs at opening 36. The bracket 35 is provided with slotted openings 52 for receiving anchor screws 51 (Figure l) and the bracket 35a is similarly attached to the bracket 35 by means of screws or threaded fasteners 54 extending through slotted openings 53 (Figure 2) Arrow 37 in Fig. 3 indicates the direction of rotation of the cutting disc 34. By slotting the holes 52, 53 in brackets 35, 35:! through which the bracket bolts clear adjustment of the cutting disc knife 34 relative to the rims of discs 5 and 7 may be obtained.

Ejection of tobacco from opening 36 between discs 5 and 7 is limited or controlled by the angle member 38, which as seen in Fig. l, is of arcuate shape to conformto the arc of discs 5 and 7 and functions both as a barrier and a'guide for the ejected tobacco. This angle 38 is adjustably bolted to the upper surface of frame 2 with its arcuate flange 39 radially spaced from the rims of discs 5 and 7 as clearly seen in Fig. 4. Angle 38 is disposed between drive pulley 18 and the cutting disc 34 and defines an arcuate opening 41 into which the tobacco leaves discharge. Assuming the cutting edge of g the cutting disc 34 to be disposed in closely spaced relation to the rims of discs 5 and 7, the radial displacement 1 of the flange 39 of angle 38 from the rims of discs 5 and 7 then determines the approximate width of the strands which are cut from the tobacco leaves projecting through opening 36 between the rims of discs 5 and 7 into opening 41. As seen in Fig. l, the discs 5 and 7 are driven in a' counterclockwise direction by the band or belt 17. This rotational movement sweeps the edges of the tobacco leaves projecting beyond the rims of the discs at opening 36, into the edge of the rotating cutting knife or disc 34. A further arcuate angle member 42 which is disposed behind the cutting disc 34 prevents the tobacco from being thrown from cavity C at this point. Angle member 42 encloses the circumferential portion of the discs 5 and 7 between the cutter disc 34 and pulley 26.

As will be seen by reference to Figs. 4 and 5, the lower disc 5 may be provided with radially disposed grooves 43. These grooves tend in some measure to orient the tobacco leaves, as they are whirled around and thrown outwardly, with their longitudinal dimensions substantially paralleling the radial paths of respective grooves. In this way the middle rib of the bulk of the tobacco leaves is substantially perpendicular to the plane of the cutting disc 34 and small sections thereof appear in each strand sliced from the leaves.

The operation of this invention will be understood from the following considerations: The tobacco leaves injected into cavity C are picked up by the grooves in the lower'disc 5 and carried around in rotation therewith. The centrifugal force acting on each leaf resulting from movement of leaf mass in an arcuate path, drives the leaves radially outwardly in grooves 43 into arcuate opening 41, the leaves being restrained and confined elsewhere within cavity C by the band or belt 17 and angle member 42. Because of the tapered cross-sectional configuration of cavity C which converges towards the rims the leaves of tobacco are compressed between the surfaces of the discs as they move radially outwardly towards the rims of the discs.

The degree of compression or compacting of the leaves is conveniently controlled by the speed of rotation of the discs, for a given axial spacing between the disc surfaces adjacent their rims. But compacting is further controlled by statically unbalancing the upper disc about its suspension axis defined by bearings 12 and 13. This is accomplished by mounting a mass 45 on a rod 46 projecting substantially radially from bearing section 9. As seen in Fig. 2, this unbalances the upper disc producing a counterclockwise torque about the axis of bearings 12 and 13 and yieldingly driving the rim of the upper disc 7 at opening 36 downwardly, applying a controlled compression force to the tobacco leaves therebetween.

Although but one embodiment of this invention has been illustrated herein, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that this invention both as to its details and as to the organization of these details is susceptible of modification without departing from the spirit and scope hereof. Accordingly, it is intended that the foregoing disclosure and the showings made in the drawings shall be considered only as illustrative of the principles of this invention and not construed in a limiting sense.

I claim as my invention:

1. A machine for cutting leaf material comprising, a pair of axially spaced, substantially coaxial, simultaneously rotatable discs defining a cavity therebetween; an endless band engagaing a substantial portion of the rims of said discs and closing said cavity, curved guide means radially spaced from another portion of the rims of said discs, a cutting knife disposed adjacent said rims for movement in said radial space between said guide means and said rims, one of said discs having a substantially central opening for admitting leaf material vinto'saicl cavity.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and in addition, motor means having a pulley engaging said endless band for driving said band.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the inner face of one of said discs is provided with substantially radial grooves.

4. A machine for cutting leaf material comprising, a

first disc mounted for rotation in a substantially horizontal plane, a second disc of substantially the same diameter as said first disc, bearing means rotatably and tiltably mounting said second disc in axially spaced substantially coaxial relation with said first disc, said discs forming a cavity therebetween opening between the rims of said discs. one

of said discs having a substantially central opening for admitting leaf material into said cavity, an endless band engaging a substantial portion of the rims of said discs and closing said cavity, means for driving said discs in rotation and subjecting leaf material in said cavity to centrifugal force, guide means radially spaced from another portion of said rims, and a cutting knife disposed adjacent said disc adjacent said guide means for cutting leaf material protruding from said cavity beyond the rims of said discs.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 in which the inner face of one of said discs is provided with substantially radial grooves.

6. A machine for cutting leaf material comprising, a first disc mounted for rotation in a substantially hori- Zontal plane, a second disc of substantially the same diameter as said first disc, bearing means rotatably and tiltably mounting said second disc in axially spaced substantially coaxial relation with said first disc, said discs forming a cavity therebetween opening between the rims of said discs, means connected with said tiltably mounted second disc for yieldably biasing said second disc to a tilted position with respect to said first disc, one of said discs having a substantially central opening for admitting leaf material into said cavity, an endless band engaging a substantial portion of the rims of said discs and closing said cavity, means for driving said discs in rotation and subjecting leaf material in said cavity to centrifugal force, guide means radially spaced from another portion of said rims, and a cutting knife disposed adjacent said disc at said guide, means for cutting leaf material protruding from said cavity beyond the rims of said discs.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 in which said means yieldably biasing said second disc comprises a mass connected with said bearing means and disposed on one side of the tilt axis of said second disc.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 wherein said means for driving said discs comprises motor operated pulley means connected to drive said endless band.

St. Requier Dec. 8, 1885 Urschel et a1. Apr. 2, 1940 

